Charles VII leads his army into Italy to invade the Kingdom of Naples. He is invited into the peninsula by Ludovico Il Moro of Milan, concerned about aggression from Naples. Ludovico had expected the French to travel to Naples largely by sea, and with a smaller force, not the full deployment of the French crown
Category Archives: Podcasts
Battle of Fornovo 1495 Part 3
Lorenzo il Magnifico, ruler of Florence 1469-1492. In the so-called Pazzi Conspiracy Pope Sixtus IV organises an assassination attempt on Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano. Lorenzo survives and goes on to help negotiate a peace treaty between the five great powers of Italy. For his influence and diplomatic skills he becomes known as ‘the needle of the Italian compass’. Lorenzo also sponsored great artists such as Botticelli and Michelangelo da Vinci. However, towards the end of his reign, the people of Florence grow increasingly resentful about economic disruptions and turn to the radical preacher Savonarola
Battle of Fornovo 1495 Part 2
Renaissance Florence and Medici
Rise of the Medici dynasty in Florence. Renaissance Italy sees a remarkable flourishing of art and literature, with such writers as Dante, Bocaccio and Petrarch, the architects Brunelleschi and Michelozzo, and the artists Giotto and Pisano. Florence creates a republican system of government, although imperfect, democratic for its time. Cosimo de Medici, a skilled diplomat, rises to power in Florence and helps organise the Peace of Lodi, which brings a period of relative peace and stability to the Italian peninsula
Battle of Fornovo 1495 Part 1
Overview of Italy in the 1400’s in the lead-up to the Renaissance and Italian Wars. The 5 main powers were The Papacy, Milan, Florence, Naples and Venice, each with very different characteristics.
Battle of Nancy 1477 Part 3
The Burgundian Wars 1474-1477
Charles the Bold of Burgundy captures the Duchy of Lorraine. But he faces fierce resistance from his neighbours who form an alliance called the League of Constance, which includes several Swiss towns. The culmination of the wars is the Siege of Nancy 1476-77
Battle of Nancy 1477 Part 2
Charles the Bold of Burgundy imposes his will on the citizens of Low Countries but, in so doing, creates resentment. Meanwhile, stoked by Louis XI of France, tensions rise between Charles and the Swiss
Battle of Nancy 1477 Part 1
Survey of Western European powers around 1460’s, including England, France, Burgundy, Switzerland, Savoy, and the major antagonists; King Louis XI of France (pictured) and Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy
The Hussite Wars 1419-1434
The Hussite Wars were a series of crusades in the Kingdom of Bohemia (Czech Republic) against religious dissidents, prepared to go to war against the Catholic Church to protect their religious freedoms
Hussite Wars 1419-1434, Early Bohemia
Hussite Wars 1419-1434, Early Bohemia
Early history of Bohemia (approx modern day Czech Republic), the Golden Age of Prague under Emperor Charles IV, and execution of Jan Hus for alleged heresy, which triggered the Hussite Wars. Pictured: Charles Bridge in Prague
Battle of Castillon Part 4
Battle of Castillon 1453, End of the Hundred Years War
Culmination of the Hundred Years War at the Battle of Castillon 1453. The French rapidly advance into English-held territory in Normandy and Aquitaine